Egypt

The renewed protests in Egypt underline the fact that the popular urge for democracy , which blazed forth across much of the region as the 'Arab spring', refuses to be cowed down by repression by elements of the old regime. These protests also offer hope that the real change they demand will eventually be delivered, and not end with a mere change of figureheads, as seemed to be happening with the army retaining control after the removal of Hosni Mubarak . The wider...

CAIRO: Egypt is interested in joining the Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the foreign ministry spokesman said today. Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia have all said they intend to join the bank, despite scepticism about the AIIB in Washington and Tokyo. China and 20 other countries signed a memorandum of understanding last October to establish the Beijing-headquartered USD 50 billion AIIB. "Egypt has applied to join the Asian Infrastructure...

CAIRO: India today warned some companies in Egypt against selling Sovaldi medicines, used to treat hepatitis C, which they claim are being manufactured in India. "It has come to our attention that certain unscrupulous elements are engaged in selling Sovaldi medicines in Egypt as genuine companies. These companies are claiming that their Sovaldi products are being produced in India," said an Indian Embassy statement. The statement said that only seven Indian...

CAIRO: Egypt's new military rulers said on Saturday the existing cabinet would stay until a new one was formed and the country would respect international treaties, a statement that will reassure Israel and the United States . "The current government and governors undertake to manage affairs until the formation of a new government," a senior army officer said in a statement delivered on state television, a day after President ...

CAIRO: India is organising a mega festival, considered the biggest foreign fair, in Egypt to send a message that the country is safe for Indian tourists despite violent extremist attacks and unrest, India's envoy to Egypt has said. Indian Ambassador to Egypt Navdeep Suri said Egypt's Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Tourism were impressed with India's commitment to the 18-day 'India by the Nile' festival and came on board without any hesitation. "The...

SHARM EL SHEIKH (EGYPT): Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi called the Shi'ite Houthi militia "Iran's puppet" at an Arab League summit in Egypt on Saturday. "I tell Iran's puppet ... 'You are the one that destroyed Yemen with your political immaturity'," Hadi said in Sharm el-Sheikh. Tehran denies providing money and training to the Shi'ite Houthi fighters, as alleged by some Western and Yemeni officials.

MUMBAI: Mahindra & Mahindra told the media on Monday that it has launched its Sports Utility Vehicle Scorpio in Egypt in association with Bavarian Auto Group. "This launch is a significant milestone for Mahindra as it not only expands our footprint in Africa, but also marks the first time Scorpio is being assembled outside India," M&M Auto president Pawan Goenka said. Besides Egypt, Scorpio is being exported to Europe, Africa, Asia, Gulf, South America and Australia,...

WASHINGTON: A website that monitors Internet traffic was receiving reports on Wednesday that Facebook was inaccessible in Egypt, a day after Twitter was blocked amid anti-government unrest. Asked about the social network's status in Egypt, a Facebook spokesman referred AFP to Herdict.org, a project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University . The Herdict.org website listed two reports of Facebook being inaccessible in Egypt. There...

CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak set up a committee Tuesday to recommend constitutional amendments to relax presidential eligibility rules and impose term limits, seeking to meet longtime popular demands as a standoff with protesters seeking his ouster enters its third week. Mubarak's decrees were announced on state television by Vice President Omar Suleiman , who also said that Mubarak will set up a separate committee to monitor the implementation of all proposed reforms.

The dominant picture of an emerging Egypt is green. The fear that Middle East's politically most vocal and significant country will be governed by mullahs is clouding most commentary on the transition. True, developments in Egypt over the past weeks have been muddled and at first sight the disarray is overwhelming. But that doesn't necessarily translate to the emergence of an Islamist nation. To understand the struggle between the newly elected lawmakers and the once all-powerful military...

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: British oil company BP (BPL) finalised on Saturday a $12 billion deal with Egypt to develop 5 trillion cubic feet of gas resources and 55 million barrels of condensates in the West Nile Delta. The supply deal, signed at an international investment conference in the Sharm El-Sheikh resort, will help Egypt as it tackles its worst energy crisis in decades. Rising energy consumption and decreasing production have turned it from a net...

SHARM EL SHEIKH: The foreign ministers of Egypt and Kuwait said Thursday it was necessary to intervene in Yemen after Huthi rebels threatened the southern port of Aden, at a meeting ahead of an Arab summit. Both countries had expressed support for Saudi-led air strikes overnight against the Iran-backed rebels. The Huthi offensive "obliged all of us to quickly respond and take the required measures to restore peace and security," Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah...

CAIRO: It is a project as ambitious as Egypt's ancient pyramids. Built from scratch to escape Cairo's choking pollution, a planned new capital will feature an airport larger than London's Heathrow, a building taller than Paris's Eiffel Tower and more than 10,000 km (6,200 miles) of boulevards, avenues and streets. The city, meant to be built within just seven years, was unveiled last week at the Sharm El-Sheikh economic summit, where President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi...

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK: A US Air Force veteran has been charged with trying to provide support for the Islamic State militant group, US prosecutors said on Tuesday. A federal grand jury in New York City indicted Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh for attempting to provide material support to the group and attempted obstruction of justice. Pugh, 47, of Neptune, N.J., is to be arraigned Wednesday morning in federal court in Brooklyn. Michael Schneider, a court-appointed lawyer...

SHARM EL SHEIKH: Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab announced Sunday that his country agreed $36.2 billion (34.5 billion euros) in investment deals , at the close of a three-day conference to kick start the economy. The conference, which started with Arab Gulf countries pledging $12 billion in investments and aid, is seen by the government as a ringing endorsement of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his fight against Islamist militants. "Direct investment contracts...

BERLIN: German conglomerate Siemens has signed a "four billion euro" power deal with Egypt, a company spokesperson said on Saturday. Under a number of accords agreed between the parties, Siemens will build a "4.4 gigawatt combined cycle power plant and install wind power capacity of 2 gigawatt", the company added in a statement. Other projects would include building a factory in Egypt "to manufacture rotor blades for wind turbines". Under two further...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is sending a special envoy to Germany and Egypt to relay Islamabad's position and policy in the current crisis with India, the government announced on Sunday. Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari, a former President, was to leave on Sunday. Leghari will be carrying letters from President Musharraf to the leadership in Germany and Egypt.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: US Secretary of State John Kerry says the US will make a decision "very soon" on how to unfreeze hundreds of millions of dollars in suspended American military assistance to Egypt. Egypt has been trying to get F-16s fighter jets, tanks and other materiel to combat the extremist threat spilling over from Libya and in the Sinai Peninsula. The Obama administration considers the money critical for Mideast stability. But the US must...

CAIRO: Egypt plans to build a new administrative and business capital east of Cairo that will house five million people and feature a theme park "four times bigger than Disneyland", a minister announced at a global investor conference. Housing Minister Mustafa Kamel Madbuli said the new city would relieve pressure on overcrowded Cairo, with its population of 18 million expected to double in coming decades. "The idea to build the new city originated from our awareness that...